Friends and Neighbors: Perry-Jay has lived the full life in Kimball

Kimball has a long history, and it would not have that history if it was not for the residents that choose to call it home. One of Kimball's longtime residents is Louise M. Perry-Jay, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, cosmetologist, Avon lady, and all-around hard worker.

Louise M. Perry-Jay was six months old in 1926 when she moved with her parents, John C. and Anna F. Schadegg, to live on a farm just northwest Kimball. Louise grew up on the farm with her two sisters and her brother.

"Kimball was much different back when I was growing up and going to school. When I started high school, I stayed with a family in town because we lived 10 miles out. Once my sister started high school, my parents rented a place in town for us. We didn't have a car to get back and forth," she said.

Louise also recalls that during her time in school there were not as many activities as there are now. She mentioned that there were no sports for girls at the time and most free time was spent working on the farm. She graduated from high school in 1943, and following her graduation she held an apprenticeship under Esther Anderson, at the time a local cosmetologist.

"I opened my own beauty shop in the back of Larsen's old jewelry store. I had that shop for some years until I sold it when I married Leonard," Louise said.

In 1946, Louise married Leonard Perry. With the money gained from selling her beauty shop, they purchased a tractor. The couple had two sons before they moved to a farm just outside of Kimball in 1949.

Louise had twins in 1955, but they were born prematurely and they died in within a day of their birth.

"It was hard out on the farm. You don't always have good years. We had Edwin then Carol, and Richard, then the twins that died. We hired on Smoky (Donald Fast), and he'd help when I started selling Avon in '59," Louise said.

She remembers having the west end of town as her selling territory. Back then it took her three letters to get someone to come out from Avon and hire her.

"Avon pretty much sold makeup and fragrances then, not much else, not like now," Louise said.

Her family sold eggs, milk and cream to those who would buy, another thing that was easier at the time due to no real need for licensing or regulations on the food products.

By the end of 1960, Louise had two more children, Danny (1958) and Donna (1960).

"Our kids didn't have time to get into trouble. They had responsibilities on the farm. Not like kids now, and when my kids were growing up, drugs weren't all over like you see now," she said.

Louise mentioned that Kimball was better in the past, and more peaceful. However, she still loves Kimball. It is her home and close to her family.

Sadly in 1978, the Perrys lost their daughter Carol to leukemia.

All the Perry children attended college, even on the modest farm budget.

"John went for agronomy, James to be an electrician, Edwin, in forestry, Carol for music and business, Richard for veterinary medicine, Danny for mechanics, and Donna is a lab tech," Louise said.

Leonard and Louise worked hard to provide for their family and in turn their children learned to work hard as well.

Leonard died from a ruptured descending aorta in August 1987. Thirteen years after his death, Louise attended a square dancing class and that is where she met Arnold Jay.

"I was looking to have some good clean fun. I didn't like to go to bars, and I thought square dancing sounded great," Louise said.

The two met in February 2000 and married on Oct. 21 of that year. At the time, Louise lived on the farm, and so Arnold moved to it with her.

"It surprised me when I got home one day and there she was at 76, mowing the lawn on that riding lawn mower," Arnold said.

Arnold and Louise moved into Kimball in 2008, and Louise loves it.

"I love living in town. We're so close to everything, if something is happening. The church, hospital, grocery store, they're all right there," Louise said.

Another advantage to being in town is that once a year when the Perry family gets together, Louise and Arnold are close to the location of the gathering.

"It gets hard to go to everything. I'll be 90 in August and I don't get around like I used to," Louise said.

Louise has 18 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. She will have been selling Avon for 56 years as of this April, and she has had several of the same clients for all those years. She is a permanent member of the Avon President's Club due to her years selling for the company. She continues to sell Avon because of her liking for cosmetics as well as her love of people.

"I guess I'm a people person, I like talking to the people," Louise said.

Louise has witnessed the ups and downs of Kimball over the years, including the oil boom and the hard years when crops were hard to grow.

"I remember when some years were bad and you didn't have a crop. I remember when Farmer's Day was downtown because any event that happened to bring the community together happened downtown. Some people don't remember this, but I am pretty sure that when I was a young girl I remember a Farmer's Day when they threw turkeys off the roof of Larsen's," Louise said.

Louise M. Perry-Jay has lived a full and eventful life and has the family to prove it, and she did it all in Kimball. Louise and her family are clearly an example of the kind of quality people Kimball is capable of being a home to.